The Perfect Fix (Perfect Kisses #5) - Miley Maine Page 0,30

can’t help it. They have cracked up in my mind over the years, mostly because I know that even if they had changed their minds about everything when it comes to Travis and me, they wouldn’t be able to reach me to apologize. They have no idea where I am.

Perhaps I could call them now and give them that chance. It’s a huge risk, an absolutely massive one, to call them after seven years and to ask them for money, but right now I don’t see if I have any other choice.

I suck in a deep breath, trying to ignore how shaky it is, and I find my parent’s land line number in my cell phone. There have been times when I have almost deleted this number because I’ve been so angry and upset, but it’s pointless and I know it is because the number will always be in my brain. It’s one of those I can never forget.

“Just do it,” I hiss at myself. “Don’t be a wimp.”

Admittedly, it takes me a couple of minutes before I actually follow through with that, but eventually, desperation overcomes me as I hit dial. I have to leap up off my seat and pace the room as I listen to the ringing sound. There is no way in hell I can’t keep still. This is the most anxious I have been in a long time.

“Hello?” Oh God, it’s my mother, and she already sounds pissed off. I haven’t even said anything yet. “Hello? Is anybody there?”

“Mo... Mom,” I just about manage to stammer out nervously. “It’s me.” She doesn’t say anything. It’s almost like she has stopped breathing. “I just wanted to talk to you...”

“You want something,” she interrupts sharply. “There is no way you would be calling me now after all of this time if you didn’t want anything. So, what is it? Money? I can only assume that it’s money. Well, I can assure you right now. It isn’t going to happen. We are not going to give you anything. I don’t know why you would even assume that we would. After everything you have put us through...”

“I have been through things as well.” I want to make her understand that there are two sides to this story.

“The only things that you have been through are things that you have bought on yourself, so don’t try and spill that, to make me give you sympathy. Do you even know what you did to us? You have no idea.”

This was a mistake. I don’t even know why I made this phone call. How did I think that things would have changed in the last few years? That was so naive and stupid of me. I don’t know what I was thinking.

“Never mind,” I say quickly through the emotion instead of asking what I was planning on asking. “I just wanted to speak to you, Mom, but forget it.”

I hang up quickly, much faster than when I dialed the number. I place my cell phone on the table in front of me and wait to see if she’s going to call me back. If she was any sort of mother, even after the nastiness, she would call me back to try and sort things out. But she doesn’t. My cell phone remains so silent it hurts my ears. It makes me cry even harder to know that she just doesn’t care. She hasn’t softened at all and forgiven me.

But I can’t get too lost and upset over this. I can’t allow myself to wallow in self-pity. I still have a problem that I need to solve. I idly scroll through my phone contacts to see if there is anyone else that I can turn to. But of course, I don’t have anyone. I have blocked people out for a reason and that’s come back to bite me in the ass.

“Ronnie.” Urgh even seeing his name makes my blood run cold. I hate him, I despise him, but I have obviously kept his number for a reason. Because I suppose a little part of me thought that maybe one day, he would turn out to be a father. While there is not much chance of that happening now, he could pay up, couldn’t he? I have never gone after him for child support money, but surely, he would want to keep his son with a roof over his head.

“Screw it.” I hit the call button without giving myself any time to think it